Jaime Ortega

Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega said Friday that the restored Christmas holiday had brought joy to the country's people, and he urged them to preserve the day as one of faith and family love free from commercialization. Ortega, archbishop of Havana and leader of Cuba's Roman Catholics, made the plea in a 15-minute Christmas message broadcast on a minor state radio station.

Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega said Friday that the restored Christmas holiday had brought joy to the country's people, and he urged them to preserve the day as one of faith and family love free from commercialization. Ortega, archbishop of Havana and leader of Cuba's Roman Catholics, made the plea in a 15-minute Christmas message broadcast on a minor state radio station.

The banner outside the Sacred Heart Church in Havana's La Vibora district proclaimed, "Without Christ, there is no true liberation," and pews inside were packed with the elderly, the infirm, the pained and the desperate. At the pulpit stood Cuba's man of the hour--the balding, cherubic cardinal who wears the mantle of a long-isolated nation's hopes, prayers and dreams.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Saturday called on all Cubans--"Catholics and non-Catholics, believers and nonbelievers"--to line the avenues, pack the plazas and greet Pope John Paul II this week with respect, not politics.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Saturday called on all Cubans--"Catholics and non-Catholics, believers and nonbelievers"--to line the avenues, pack the plazas and greet Pope John Paul II this week with respect, not politics.

Pope John Paul will make his planned visit to Cuba in January 1998, the Vatican has confirmed. It issued a statement after an announcement in Havana by Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega that the trip, initially expected to take place this year, would be delayed. The 76-year-old pontiff already has four foreign trips planned for 1997.

Ian Alsen of Granada Hills High and Mike Glaze of Notre Dame were named to the 1987 All-American high school cross-country team selected by the Cross-Country Journal. Alsen, the Kinney West Regional champion, and Glaze, the third-place finisher in the state Division II championships, were selected to the 15-man team in the Large School Division (1,000 or more students). Although the honor is given for cross-country, it actually is based on three-mile track times.

A 25-year-old man died and two others were injured early Saturday when their car veered off the Bristol Street exit ramp of the San Diego Freeway, went down an embankment and overturned, a California Highway Patrol dispatcher said. The threesome were traveling north about 2:40 a.m. when their Ford Mustang smashed into two guardrails and a metal sign post before going over the side of the road, according to the CHP. Officers found the driver trapped inside the car, the dispatcher said.

Almost 7,300 runners from 300 high schools got together this weekend in Walnut, not to watch things change, but remain the same. Kira Jorgensen, the junior from Rancho Buena Vista of Vista in the San Diego Section, is still the best girls' distance runner in the state. Palos Verdes proved again it is the No. 1 girls' cross-country team in California. Arroyo of El Monte, after a subpar performance in winning last weekend, regained the look as the top-ranked boys' team in the state.

The banner outside the Sacred Heart Church in Havana's La Vibora district proclaimed, "Without Christ, there is no true liberation," and pews inside were packed with the elderly, the infirm, the pained and the desperate. At the pulpit stood Cuba's man of the hour--the balding, cherubic cardinal who wears the mantle of a long-isolated nation's hopes, prayers and dreams.

Almost 7,300 runners from 300 high schools got together this weekend in Walnut, not to watch things change, but remain the same. Kira Jorgensen, the junior from Rancho Buena Vista of Vista in the San Diego Section, is still the best girls' distance runner in the state. Palos Verdes proved again it is the No. 1 girls' cross-country team in California. Arroyo of El Monte, after a subpar performance in winning last weekend, regained the look as the top-ranked boys' team in the state.

Granada Hills High School, with star Ian Alsen deciding to run with the team, instead of as an individual in the Kinney national finals at San Diego, will attempt to break Belmont's five-year hold on the City boys' cross-country title today at Pierce College. Alsen won the Kinney West Regional last week in Fresno, but the national meet conflicts with the City championship. He chose to compete on the three-mile course in Woodland Hills with Granada Hills, looking for its first title since 1976.